In this communication, we discuss the details of fabricating an off-line fibre
optic sensor (FOS) based on evanescent wave absorption for detecting trace
amounts of Fe3+ in water. Two types of FOS are developed; one type uses
the unclad portion of a multimode silica fibre as the sensing region whereas
the other employs the microbent portion of a multimode plastic fibre as the
sensing region. Sensing is performed by measuring the absorption of the
evanescent wave in a reagent medium surrounding the sensing region. To
evaluate the relative merits of the two types of FOS in Fe3+ sensing, a
comparative study of the sensors is made, which reveals the superiority of
the latter in many respects, such as smaller sensing length, use of a double
detection scheme (for detecting both core and cladding modes) and higher
sensitivity of cladding mode detection at an intermediate range of
concentration along with the added advantage that plastic fibres are
inexpensive. A detection limit of 1 ppb is observed in both types of fibre and
the range of detection can be as large as 1 ppb–50 ppm. All the
measurements are carried out using a LabVIEW set-up.

A novel sensing technique for the in situ monitoring of the rate of pulsed laser
deposition (PLD) of metal thin films has been developed. This optical fibre based sensor
works on the principle of the evanescent wave penetration of waveguide modes into the
uncladded portion of a multimode fibre. The utility of this optical fibre sensor is
demonstrated in the case of PLD of silver thin films obtained by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser
which is used to irradiate a silver target at the required conditions for the preparation of thin
films. This paper describes the performance and characteristics of the sensor and shows how
the device can be used as an effective tool for the monitoring of the deposition rate of silver
thin films. The fibre optic sensor is very simple, inexpensive and highly sensitive compared
with existing techniques for thin film deposition rate measurements

We present a compact solid-state laser based on leaky mode propagation
from a dye-doped polymer free-standing film waveguide. The edge emitted
spectrum clearly indicated the existence of periodic resonant modes. The
reflections from the lateral faces of the free-standing film provided the
optical feedback thus giving rise to a Fabry–Perot like optical cavity. This
together with the guidance through the gain medium gave rise to intense
narrow emission lines. For a pump energy of 1.82 mJ/pulse, an intense line
with FWHM ∼0.4 nmwas observed at 576.5 nm.

In this paper, we report the measurements of thermal diffusivity of nano Ag metal dispersed ceramic alumina
matrix sintered at different temperatures using laser induced non-destructive photoacoustic technique. Measurements of
thermal diffusivity also have been carried out on specimens with various concentration of nano metal. Analysis of the
data is done on the basis of one-dimensional model of Rosencwaig and Gersho. The present measurements on the
thermal diffusivity of nano metal dispersed ceramic alumina shows that porosity has a great influence on the heat
transport and the thermal diffusivity value. The present analysis also shows that the inclusion of nano metal into
ceramic matrix increases its interconnectivity and hence the thermal diffusivity value. The present study on the samples
sintered at different temperature shows that the porosity of the ceramics varies considerably with the change in sintering
temperature. The results are interpreted in terms of phonon assisted heat transfer mechanism and the exclusion of pores
with the increase in sintering temperature

We report unusual spectral narrowing and laser emission from polymer thin
films doped with Coumarin 540 dye. The laser emission from the polymer
films is found to be highly dependent upon the excitation length of the
medium. Even a short length of 1.75 mm of the dye doped film gave rise to
laser emission with FWHM of 0.3 nm for a pump intensity of 825 kW cm−2.
The partial reflections from the broad lateral surfaces of the free standing
films provided the optical feedback for the laser emission. Occurrence of
well-resolved equally spaced resonant modes confirmed the effect of a
Fabry–Perot-like optical cavity between the film surfaces

The thermal effusivity values in the isotropic phase of certain comb-shaped
polymers have been evaluated for the first time using an open photoacoustic
cell configuration. The compounds investigated have siloxane and acrylate
backbone and they carry mesogenic groups in their side chain. The results
indicate that the polymer chain length as well as the side chain length have
pronounced influence on the thermal effusivity values in liquid crystalline
polymers

Complete thermal characterization of liquid crystal mixtures in the smectic
phase consisting of various relative volume fractions of cholesterol and
1-hexadecanol have been carried out using the photoacoustic technique.
Thermal diffusivity values of these liquid crystal mixtures are evaluated using
the open cell photoacoustic technique whereas the thermal effusivity value is
measured using the conventional photoacoustic technique. From the
measured values of these transient thermophysical parameters, the thermal
conductivity and heat capacity of the sample under investigation are
calculated. Analyses of the results show that all the thermophysical
parameters depend strongly on the volume fraction of the constituents.
Results are interpreted in terms of enhanced hydrogen bonding and the
consequent enhancement in cohesive thermal energy transport with
increasing volume fraction of 1-hexadecanol

The photobleaching of the lasing dye Rhodamine 6G embedded in the solid
matrix poly(methyl methacrylate) was investigated using a photoacoustic technique.
Chopped laser radiation from an argon ion laser at four different wavelengths was used for
the study. Experimental results indicate that the photobleaching rate is directly proportional
to the incident laser power while it decreases with increase in concentration of the dye
molecules. In the present case we have not observed any dependence of photobleaching on
the chopping frequency. One-photon absorption is found to be responsible for the
photobleaching of the dye within the selected range of laser power.

In this paper, we report the in-plane and cross-plane measurements of the thermal diffusivity of double
epitaxial layers of n-type GaAs doped with various concentrations of Si and a p-type Be-doped GaAs layer
grown on a GaAs substrate by the molecular beam epitaxial method, using the laser-induced nondestructive
photothermal deflection technique. The thermal diffusivity value is evaluated from the slope of the graph of the
phase of the photothermal deflection signal as a function of pump-probe offset. Analysis of the data shows that
the cross-plane thermal diffusivity is less than that of the in-plane thermal diffusivity. It is also seen that the
doping concentration has a great influence on the thermal diffusivity value. Measurement of p-type Be-doped
samples shows that the nature of the dopant also influences the effective thermal diffusivity value. The results
are interpreted in terms of a phonon-assisted heat transfer mechanism and the various scattering process
involved in the propagation of phonons

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) optical fibres are fabricated by a preform drawing process.
The Raman spectra of PMMA fibres are recorded using a diode pumped solid state laser
emitting at 532 nm and a CCD-spectrograph in the 400–3800 cm−1 range. The variation of the
Raman intensity with the length of the optical fibre is studied. Investigations are carried out on
the variation of FWHM of the Raman peak at 2957 cm−1 with the length of the optical fibre and
pump power. The differential scattering cross section and gain coefficient of the Raman peak at
2957 cm−1 in PMMA are calculated in relation to that of toluene.

The fabrication and characterization of a fibre optic pH sensor based on
evanescent wave absorption is presented. The unclad portion of a
multi-mode optical fibre is coated with a pH sensitive dye, which is
immobilized by the sol–gel route. The sensitivity of the device has been
found to increase when multiple sol–gel coatings are used as the sensing
region. The dynamic range and the temporal response of the sensor are
investigated for two different dyes, namely bromocresol purple and
bromocresol green. The performance of the device is evaluated in terms of
the results obtained during actual measurements

Optical emission from TiO2 plasma, generated by a nanosecond laser is spectroscopically
analysed. The main chemical species are identified and the spatio-temporal distribution of
the plasma parameters such as electron temperature and density are characterized based on the
study of spectral distribution of the line intensities and their broadening characteristics. The parameters
of laser induced plasma vary quickly owing to its expansion at low background pressure
and the possible deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions are tested to show
its validity

An open photoacoustic cell operating in the low range of chopping
frequency has been employed to evaluate the thermal diffusivity values of
intrinsic InP and InP doped with S, Sn and Fe. The experimental set-up is
calibrated by the evaluation of thermal diffusivity value of pure Si and
GaAs. The present investigation shows that doped samples show a reduced
value for thermal diffusivity compared to intrinsic sample. From the
analysis of data it is also seen that nature of dopant clearly influences the
thermal diffusivity value of semiconductors. The results are explained in
terms of phonon assisted heat transfer mechanism in semiconductors

In this paper, we describe the use of an open cell
photoacoustic configuration for the evaluation of the thermal
effusivity of liquid crystals. The feasibility, precision and reliability
of the method are initially established by measuring
the thermal effusivities of water and glycerol, for which the
effusivity values are known accurately. In order to demonstrate
the use of the present method in the thermal characterization
of liquid crystals, we have measured the thermal
effusivity values in various mesophases of 4-cyano-4 -
octyloxybiphenyl (8OCB) and 4-cyano-4 -heptyloxybiphenyl
(7OCB) liquid crystals using a variable temperature open
photoacoustic cell. A comparison of the measured values for
the two liquid crystals shows that the thermal effusivities of
7OCB in the nematic and isotropic phases are slightly less
than those of 8OCB in the corresponding phases

We report on a laser induced photoacoustic study of the nematic-to-isotropic
transition in certain commercial nematic liquid crystal mixtures, namely BL001, BL002,
BL032 and BL035. A simple analysis of the experimental data using the
Rosencwaig–Gersho theory shows that the heat capacities of all these compounds exhibit a
sharp peak as the temperature of the sample is varied across the transition region. Also,
substantial differences in the photoacoustic signal amplitudes in nematic and isotropic phases
have been noticed for all the mixtures. The increased light scattering property of the nematic
phase may be the reason for the enhanced photoacoustic signal amplitude in this phase